Mia Hamm Soccer Shootout

Pocket football

Contributor

Shoot em out

It occurred to me when looking at
Mia Hamm Soccer Shootout today that the football genre on the
GameBoy isn't underpopulated, it's just that none of the games
are very good, to the extent that most of them sink into
obscurity within weeks of release. One company that aims to
break this trend is Aqua Pacific, UK-based developers of Mia
Hamm Soccer Shootout on the GameBoy Color.
Okay okay, it's clearly a game with its roots firmly embedded
across the Atlantic in the USA. Mia Hamm is apparently one of (if
not the) best footballing ladies in the world, and pleasingly (for
the yanks) she's a member of the US national soccer team (I hate
saying that, it's football dang nammit). But anyway, although I'd
like to dive into the controversial topic of self-important
American sports simulations and how they are living under the
misguided impression that anyone is impressed by their footballing
prowess, lets deftly sidestep it entirely and address Mia Hamm, the
game.
In case you weren't aware, Mia Hamm is the little sister (seemed
appropriate) to Mia Hamm on the N64, due out late this year, and is
being developed on the side, with the intention of complementing
the "full" version by allowing gamers to get their footy kicks on
the move. Ho-hum. In spite of the marketing spiel, it looks quite
approachable, with several difficulty levels, different camera
angles (well, two) and three different play modes.

Hammball!

Viewed from either the classic
isometric viewpoint that is frequently seen on pocket football
titles or the Sensible Soccer-like overhead view, the player
gets to either take on or join the team of Mia Hamm, although
it's not clear whether her character will be souped up to
emphasize the game's license yet. The play modes are Arcade,
Tournament and Single Match, all being pretty
self-explanatory. Match length can be set to two, five or ten
minutes, so it's not intended to grab and hold your attention
like its big sister (dammit I'm trying to be consistent). On
the other hand, it does give you the option of changing team
strategy via a sort of tactics adjustment menu, which is a
step above and beyond a lot of handheld footy titles. With 31
teams (each with differing strategies and such) it should be
enough to impress its target audience, which seems to be young
boys and specifically girls.
Sadly though, it may be hard for the game to sell to the GameBoy's
usual audience, as the players and game in general focuses upon
women's football, not the men's game. As such the names will be
unfamiliar and that's enough to put off impressionable youngsters
I've found.
Nevertheless, Mia Hamm's does seem to extol virtues, and if it is
what it says it is - a swift-action football game for youngsters on
the move, it should go far. I also have the utmost respect for its
developers, publishers and Mia Hamm herself, as I'm told half of
the profits raised by the game will go toward the Mia Hamm
Foundation, a non-profit, national organization dedicated to
raising funds and awareness for bone marrow diseases and to
developing more opportunities for young women to participate in
sports.

Conclusion

It's hard to tell at this stage whether Mia Hamm Soccer Shootout
will set the world alight or not, but with a recognizable hero
(especially in America where she's a national icon), some good
ideas and specifically a noble cause we really hope it does.
Release Date - Late 2000

Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.